THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects the increasing adoption of the national Quick Response (QR) Code Standard or QR Ph Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payment facility to boost consumers’ access to safe and efficient digital transactions.

Latest data from the BSP showed that the QR Ph P2M facility can now be used in 473,000 merchant locations across the country as of April. This is almost double the 243,000 merchant locations in the previous month. 

“The use of QR Ph P2M is convenient and cost-effective since it does not require expensive point of sale or data capture terminals to facilitate digital payments for individuals and businesses,” BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan said in a statement.

QR Ph, which runs through the InstaPay rail, has helped contribute to the country’s progress towards reaching the BSP’s financial inclusion goals.

In 2019, the central bank initially launched QR Ph for person-to-person or P2P payments, catering primarily to payments and remittances in the informal sector.

The P2M use case for QR Ph was launched in October 2021, enabling interoperable digital payments between customers and merchants even if they maintain accounts with different financial service providers. The BSP said in the future, this can also be used for paying bills.

Under the BSP Circular No. 1055, the central bank required all participating payment service providers to adopt QR Ph for interoperability.

As of April, there were 28 and 17 financial institutions participating in the QR Ph P2P and P2M facilities, respectively.

“The BSP shall continue to engage the payments industry and relevant stakeholders to ensure the quality and responsiveness of digital payment services in the new normal. We ultimately want Filipinos to reap the benefits of a stronger and more inclusive Philippine economy,” Mr. Tangonan said.

The BSP targets to have 50% of the volume and value of retail transactions in the country done online by 2023. It also wants 70% of Filipino adults to have accounts with financial institutions by the same year.

The share of digital payments in the total volume of retail transactions in the country rose to 30.3% in 2021 from 20.1% a year earlier, according to latest data from the BSP.

Meanwhile, the value of payments done online represented 44.1% of total retail transactions last year, higher than the 26.8% share in 2020.

Merchant payments, peer-to-peer remittances and business transactions of salaries and wages to employees, all of which are high frequency and low value, were the key contributors to the growth in electronic transactions. — K.B. Ta-asan

BPI Investment Management, Inc. (BIMI) is looking to launch a new product that focuses on real estate investment trusts (REIT) by the middle of August.

BIMI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), said the ALFM Real Estate Income Fund (ALFM REIF) is a peso-dominated equity mutual fund and is ideal for aggressive investors with an investment horizon of more than five years.

BIMI is the fund manager, principal distributor and transfer agent of ALFM mutual funds.

“The investment objective of the Fund is to provide a stable stream of dividends and generate long-term capital growth by investing predominantly in real estate investment trusts and real estate assets,” BIMI Investment Management Head Rico Gomez said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

The ALMF REIF is authorized to offer up to 100 billion units of participation to the public with an initial net asset value of P10 per unit.

For a minimum initial investment and maintaining balance of P5,000, the fund enables investors to invest in the country’s growing real estate sector and earn dividend income amid capital appreciation.

The fund allows clients to capitalize on rentals for residential homes, shopping malls, office spaces, and a portion from land spaces.

“For the exposure, we will be doing a mix of local and global with our friendly partners from BlackRock to at least diversify the portfolio and allow us to participate in the upticks of regional or even global property sectors as well,” Mr. Gomez said.

According to Mr. Gomez, the ALMF REIF will adopt an active strategy of balancing income and growth. It will invest in equity securities of various real estate types globally. It will also target to pay out income on a quarterly basis.

“Diversifying into real estate, both through REITs and real estate-linked securities, is a good hedge against inflation, especially with inflation driven by the current market conditions,” BIMI President Roberto Martin S. Enrile said. “Unfortunately, as we roll over to this year, with the inflation picture. The AUM (assets under management) growth isn’t quite the same as it had been throughout 2020-2021.”

“For this particular fund, we typically target about P500 (million) to P1 billion in AUM six to twelve months after launch But again, there are so many moving parts in the investing environment right now. We do expect rates to continue to go up. We do expect volatility in foreign exchange, which is principally why we’re offering a stable income fund at the moment. This is the principal driver and I think it’s a very timely product offering as well given all the uncertainties that the markets are facing,” Mr. Enrile added.

The global multi-asset fund invests at least 90% of its assets in the BlackRock Global Fund Multi-Asset Income Fund as the target fund, allowing local investors to tap global securities and other investments for at least $100, and $20 in incremental investments thereafter.

BIMI is one of the Philippines’ largest managers of mutual funds with P218 billion in AUM as of end-June, approximately 50% of the industry.

Its parent BPI’s net income rose by 59.6% to P8 billion in the first quarter, driven by higher interest earnings and lower loan loss provisions as asset quality improved.

The bank’s shares closed at P87 apiece on Wednesday, up by 50 centavos or 0.58%. — Keisha B. Ta-asan